Intelligence Identities Protection Act
The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 (PL97-200, 50 U.S. Code Secs. 421–426) is a United States federal law that makes it a federal crime to intentionally reveal the identity of an agent who one knows to be in or recently in certain covert roles with a U.S. intelligence agency.
History
The law act written, in part, as a response to several incidents where Central Intelligence Agency agents' identities were published for political reasons. Such disclosures were arguably protected speech under then existing law. In 1975, CIA Athens station chief Richard Welch[1] was assassinated by the Greek terrorist group November 17 after his identity was revealed in several listings by a magazine called CounterSpy, edited by Timothy Butz. A local paper checked with CounterSpy confirm his identity.[2]
Another major impetus to pass the legislation was the activities of ex-CIA agent Philip Agee during the 1960s and 70s, whose book CIA Diary and publication Covert Action Information Bulletin (CAIB) blew the cover of many agents. Some commentators say the law was specifically targeted at his actions, and one Congressman, Bill Young, said during a House debate that "What we're after today are the Philip Agees of the world."
The law passed the [House 315–32, with all opposing votes coming from Democrats. The law passed the Senate 81–4, with the opponents being Democratic Senators Joseph Biden, Gary Hart, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Republican Senator Charles Mathias.
As of July 2005, there has only been one successful prosecution involving the statute. [1] In 1985, CIA agent Sharon Scranage was sentenced to five years, and served 8 months, for giving the names of other agents to her boyfriend in Ghana. [2]
Valerie Plame affair
There is an ongoing investigation being conducted by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald into whether this law and others were violated in the identification of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative in a 2003 newspaper column by Robert Novak. Former Vice Presidential chief of staff I. Lewis Libby has been indicted by Fitzgerald on counts of perjury and obstruction of justice, but not under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Other figures involved in the investigation include White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, and reporters Bob Woodward, Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper. The matter of whether Plame's identity was covered under the act has not been settled as it is unclear whether Plame meets the definition of a covert agent as defined by the act since she had not been stationed outside the U.S. within the five years prior to her being identified in the media.
Notes
- ^1 Washington Post. Obituary: Richard S. Welch. 29 Dec. 1975, A16. ISBN 01908286 "The murder of Richard S. Welch, CIA station chief in Athens, was the entirely predictable result of the disclosure tactics chosen by certain American critics of the agency as part of their effort to destroy it." [3]
- ^2 Morton H. Halperin and National Security Issues—A Partial Record, Congressional Record, United States Senate - July 15, 1994, pg. S9109.
Reference
- Laird Wilcox, The Watchdogs: A Close Look at Anti-Racist "Watchdog" Groups, Chapter Four: Political Research Associates, A Study in "Links and ties", Editorial Research Service, 1999, p. 122-123. ISBN 0-993592-96-5
See also
External links
- Text of the law at Wikisource:Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
- Inquiry May Hinge on What the Leaker Knew (New York Times article)